Dr. Helen

Commentary on popular culture and society, from a (mostly) psychological perspective

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Med school: Up close and personal

I am reading a new book by Dr. Anthony Youn, a plastic surgeon called In Stitches. If you ever wanted to know what it was like to take the MCATs and make it through medical school, this is your book. If you are already a doctor, this book will take you back to that time and the sacrifice that one makes to get through this grueling process.

Youn starts out as a young nerd with Coke-bottle glasses and progresses through the book to become a well known plastic surgeon with a blog at www.celebcosmeticsurgery.com You know you've hit the big time when you have a blog, right? Okay, perhaps not but it's fun. Anyway, Youn provides engaging descriptions of his youth as a nonviolent Korean kid who in fifth grade watches as the only other Asian kid in his class beats up some bullies using Bruce Lee techniques:

Karate, I know, is an Asian stereotype. Wiping out a swarm of fifth-grade douche bags, though is cool. And since I'm standing next to Kirby when he does it, I, too, have become cool. For the moment.

Of course, things get worse for this poor nerd in college which he calls the worst four years of his life. Then, he goes to med school partly because his dad wants him to but mostly, he admits on page 56 because "Chicks love doctors" and "mainly, I want to get laid." It is not until he is 25 that he gets a girlfriend.

By the end of the book, he is on his way and his feelings about being a doctor change. "I want to fix people.".."I want to make them look different if they need to, or even if they want to. Because maybe I can make them...better."

I guess that's a better reason than wanting to get laid, or maybe not.